


First Impressions

by Jack_Reyes



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Eventual Romance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-09-12 21:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9091972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jack_Reyes/pseuds/Jack_Reyes
Summary: Gabriel Reyes had a nice, quiet life in the suburbs, and he prided himself on routine. That is, until his new neighbor, Jack Morrison, just had to show up and throw everything off for him.





	1. New Neighbor

Gabriel let out a stream of curses as he looked down at the plate he had dropped and shattered against the floor. He had heard a knocking at his door, which startled him out of his sleepy, zombie-like state. Who in the hell would be trying to come over at seven in the morning? He groaned as whoever it was began knocking again, more insistent this time. Obviously, someone couldn’t take a hint that not everyone is ready for company the moment the sun starts shining, so he resolved to just answer the door and get it over with. 

Rather than his friend and coworker, Jesse, or his husband Hanzo, which Gabriel had somewhat expected, as he often came over whenever he felt like it, regardless of how it might affect Gabriel, he saw someone who he had never met before. No, he definitely would’ve remembered this gorgeous man, with hair like sunshine and eyes bluer than the fucking Pacific, and built tall and strong, like the boy scout he probably was- he was cut off from examining the newcomer when he noticed that he was staring at him quizzically, like he was waiting for an answer to a question that Gabriel wasn’t paying attention to. He cursed himself again, he was normally much better than this. Why was this man of all people getting to him so much? For fuck’s sake, he had just seen the guy for the first time mere seconds before.

“Did you want something, or are you just going to keep standing there?” Ouch, that came out harsher than he intended. When in doubt, try to come off as a hardass. It’s worked for him so far, no matter how many times Ana complains that he needs to try to be nicer, or that first impressions are the most important, and maybe he shouldn’t right off reveal the stick that is constantly shoved up his ass.

The man didn’t seem put off, which Gabriel hated himself for being thankful for. Instead he chuckled, and extended his hand toward him. “I said that I’m your new neighbor, Jack Morrison. I was going to come over and introduce myself earlier, but I figured I should give you time to sleep in for a little bit before I did.” 

Gabriel took it, and could feel the rough callous it was made of. Whoever Jack was, he was obviously used to manual labor, made more evident by the fact that he seemed to be built for strength, rather than show. “Gabriel Reyes. You need anything, you can come over and let me know. But if you do, it’d be great if you came around before eight; I’m usually somewhat in my right state of mind by then.”

Jack released his hand after shaking it, and let out another laugh, a sound that Gabriel would definitely not mind hearing again. “Sorry,” he said, not looking very sorry at all with the grin creeping onto his face. “I grew up on a farm, which meant early to bed, early to rise.” Well, that explained the manual labor, at least, but definitely not why he chose to come to the suburbs of LA of all places. “I’m definitely going to hold you to helping me out around here, though; this is definitely a change of pace from what I’m used to. I’ll see you around, Gabriel,” he said with a wink, and then sauntered off to what was presumably his own home. Gabriel watched him go, trying to keep his gaze from wandering south, and then closed the door behind him. He sighed, and made his way to the kitchen to go clean up his earlier mess. This farm boy was going to be the death of him.


	2. In which Gabriel cannot people

It’s been three days. Three days since Gabriel’s met the irritatingly attractive man that was Jack Morrison, and, much to his annoyance, he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him or how he could see him next. It was Saturday, one of two days he always has off during the week, so he didn’t even have his work to distract him from his thinking. When not even reading or working out seemed to help him, he decided to do something he very rarely did; he would go visit Jesse and ask him for advice, or at least complain enough to let off some steam. As much of a dumbass as he liked to act, beneath his cowboy exterior and atrociously tacky belt hid a sharp analytical mind, and more importantly, a kind man who gave great advice to those close to him, whenever Gabriel actually swallowed his pride enough to ask for help. Plus, Hanzo almost always made sweets on Saturday, which were fucking delicious. Motivated by the possibility of eating some of Hanzo’s cooking, he grabbed his keys and started out on the short walk to their home, only a few houses down. What he didn’t anticipate, however, was the object of his frustrations to be out in his own yard, waving Gabriel over.

“Gabriel!” Jack started calling, as though he could somehow miss the large figure a few hundred yards away, all but waving his arms off. “Come here!”

Well, too late to pretend he hadn’t noticed him now. Gabriel tried his best to not let his, to put it bluntly, resting bitch face take over his expression. As annoyed as he was by his attraction to him, that wasn’t really Jack’s fault, and he seemed like a pretty decent guy; he didn’t want him to think that he did anything wrong. “Hey, Jack. What’s up?”

Jack’s eyes seemed to light up when he answered him back. “I just wanted to apologize for coming over so early the other morning. I really hope I didn’t wake you up,” he said. “I tried to apologize yesterday, but you weren’t home, and I’m afraid I don’t have your number.” Damn it, now he was giving him puppydog eyes.

“Hey, it’s no big deal, trust me; I just tend to get cranky when I can’t sleep in on the weekends, it’s pretty much the only time that I can. And yeah, I wouldn’t have been home then; I teach math over at the high school, so pretty much the only days I have off are Saturdays and Sundays, plus vacations now and then.” He mentally cursed himself again. Jack probably didn’t want to hear all that, he just wanted to apologize and get back to his yardwork.

“Wow, really? That is so cool! I don’t think I could ever do that, I could barely handle high school the first time around, so I always admire people who can put up with the kids long enough to teach them stuff.” Gone were the apologetic puppydog eyes, they were replaced by his over enthusiastic expression, his hands moving as he talked. From inside the house, he could hear a dog barking and whining. “Oh, shoot! That’s Bridgette; I better let her out back. But really quick, there’s something I wanted to ask you. Do you want to come over for coffee tonight? You seem like a really nice guy, and I’d love to get to know you more.” Figures Jack is a dog person, just look at how he acts. Gabriel preferred cats; they’re broody and only yell when they want something, usually food. He could relate. 

“Yeah!” Gabriel said, a bit too enthusiastic. “Sorry, um, yes, I would love to come over. What time do you want me?”

Jack winked. What was it with him and winking? “Well, I _always_ want you, Gabriel, but if you could come around at 5:30, that would work out the best for me. I’m going to go take care of her now,” he said, tilting his head towards the front door, “But I’ll see you in a few hours, alright?” And with that, turned around to head up his walkway. 

Gabe, still flustered from what Jack said before, stammered out a goodbye and hurried as fast as he could without actually running to Jesse’s. He knocked without stopping for a few seconds, nearly hitting Jesse in the face when he opened up the door to let him in. “Well ain’t you eager to see me!” he said with a grin, and let him in. 

Gabriel smiled when he noticed the forms of the couple’s two Russian Blue cats peering curiously around the couch to see who came in. Udon and Soba (Hanzo must really like noodles) came over to sniff him and he scratched their ears. Once he petted them both a couple of seconds each, he stood up and addressed Jesse. “Have you met our new neighbor yet, Jack?”

Jesse looked nothing short of amused that this was the first thing Gabriel said to him since they left work yesterday. “Yeah, I’ve seen ‘im! He’s awful quiet though, but he seems alright. Why do you ask?”

“ _Quiet_? Really? He’s been talking to me every time he’s seen me. Anyways, as much as it kills me to admit this, I need your help. He’s hot. And invited me over tonight for bean juice.”

Upon hearing this, Jesse became ecstatic. “Whoa! He met you twice? And you didn’t scare him off or anything? Because I know I must’ve told you a million times by now, you’ve got a killer case of resting bitch face-” He cut himself off at Gabriel clearing his throat and glaring at him, which didn’t exactly help his case. “But anyways, you’ve gotta ask him out on a real date, like dinner or something. That’s what I did with Hanners, and look at how well that worked out!”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Right. And that was so brave of you, asking him to dinner once he’d gotten tired of dropping hints and just kissed you.”

Jesse sent him a glare of his own. “Shut up. The point is, unless you ask, you’re never gonna know. And blondie over there might be getting tired of taking the first step in everything.” Annoyingly, he had a point. “Now come with me into the kitchen; I made something I just gotta show you.”

Gabriel sniffed the air hopefully when he entered, hoping to find some kind of evidence that Hanzo had been baking, but to his disappointment, all he could smell was the overwhelming aroma of coffee. “Jesse McCree, what in the hell-” He got a frighteningly large mug shoved in his hands, filled with what appeared to be molten tar.

“It’s a power drink!” Jesse’s eyes light up as he explained what went into the atrocity of a drink that Gabriel was holding. “I used a whole tin of coffee in that one cup, and I replaced half of the water with Redbull when I brewed it! Try it, it’ll probably get us through finals week! I call it: the Mcspresso.” 

Gabriel looked down, somehow managing to pull even more disgust into his expression. “Yeah, I think the Mcfuck not. I’m going to go ahead and guess that Hanzo’s not home, he’d probably kill you for even thinking about making this.”

“Come ooonnn, Gabe, I can’t try it, he’s gonna be back any second! He’d know somethin’ was up the moment he saw me.” Unfortunately for Jesse, his puppydog eyes didn’t affect him even half as much as Jack’s did.

“As much as I’d love the opportunity to experience cardiac arrest before I turn 35, I’m going to have to pass. Besides,” he said, pointing out the clock hanging above the sink, “I need to get ready. I need to be there in less than an hour, and I look like complete shit.” He gingerly handed the cup back to Jesse, as though he was worried it might explode, and started to make his way to the door.

Jesse called after him, “Alright, but I’m still gonna hang onto this for you to try! You can have some when you come back over to tell us how it goes!”

Gabriel closed the door behind him quickly to make sure neither of the cats would get out, and started the walk back home. He might actually take Jesse’s advice tonight, but whether or not he gave him the satisfaction of telling him he did so would depend on how tonight played out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope you all enjoyed! At least until after New Years, you can expect updates to come pretty quickly, since I've nothing better to do than eat an unhealthy amount of orange chicken and write until then.


	3. The bean juice strikes back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for taking 5ever to update, it took me a long time to figure out what exactly I wanted to happen in this chapter, but I hope you enjoy!

Gabriel fussed over his reflection for what must’ve been the tenth time in the mirror. He obviously wanted to look nice, but he didn’t want to look _too_ nice, as he still wasn’t sure if it was even a date or not. God, he was so overthinking this; Jack was probably just some poor ramrod straight man from Cornfuck Indiana, who was lonely and wanted to make some friends who live close by. Right, so most likely not a date, despite how much Gabriel wanted to jump his bones every time he saw the guy. With a quick glance at the clock (and one more at himself to make sure that he was indeed wearing the jeans that complimented his ass the best, just in case), he figured that now was as good of a time as any to head over to Jack’s place. 

To both his relief and amusement, Jack answered the door almost immediately after he knocked, pulling away a very eager looking coonhound as he did so. “Get _down_ , Bridgette, holy shit,” Jack glanced up at him apologetically. “I’m really sorry, she’s normally not like this; she must like you! But here, come in and sit down. The coffee will be ready in just a sec!” Dog in tow, Jack led him to a cozy living room, one that wasn’t quite lived in yet, but was getting there. He gestured over to an overstuffed couch, and motioned for Gabriel to sit. “Go ahead and sit down though! I’m gonna grab the coffee real quick.”

Gabriel nodded and made his way over, the cushions making a satisfying puffing noise when be plopped down. Bridgette seemed to be more than happy with this, taking it as an invitation to clamber up onto the sofa beside him and rest her head in his lap. She looked up at him with soulful eyes, and began whining. When he didn’t take the hint, she started nosing his hand, until he chuckled and began petting her head. Almost immediately, she began closing her eyes, and quickly drifted to sleep under his hand’s ministrations. Soon after he had began to wonder if Jack was doing okay, he heard a loud thud, the unmistakable sound of shattering glass, and a stream of curses that even put Gabriel’s mouth to shame. 

Gabriel sprinted for the kitchen the second he carefully lifted the somehow still sleeping dog off of his lap, getting there in a couple of seconds. “Fucking hell Jack, are you okay? You could’ve asked for help with that, holy shit,” He said as he helped a furiously blushing Jack to his feet. It only took him a couple of seconds to piece together what happened; what little bit of steaming coffee left that wasn’t on Jack was around where he was sitting, along with a shattered coffee pot and a couple of mugs. He had tried to carry it all out by himself, the dumbass, and slipped on one of Bridgette’s toys. 

“Sorry about that,” Jack said with a laugh, “I definitely should’ve been paying more attention. Or at least taken more than one trip out. But damn,” he added, glancing down at himself. “I better get cleaned up; that coffee was damn near boiling.” 

Gabriel grunted, and tried to keep his gaze looking concerned, which was getting more and more difficult considering just how much the spilled drink clung to his torso, revealing well defined muscles. “I could help you get cleaned up, if you want. I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty handy with a first aid kit,” He offered, before he could stop himself. 

Jack flushed a bit more, but nodded. “Yeah, sure! Come with me; all my med supplies are in the bathroom.” Gabriel simply nodded in return, and followed Jack to a small bathroom up the hallway. From underneath the sink, Jack brought out a decent sized first aid kit, and handed it to Gabriel before sitting down on the edge of the tub and taking off his shirt. 

Gabriel’s eyes widened when he gazed upon Jack’s bare torso. It was every bit as gorgeous as he guessed (not that he had imagined looking at it very often, or what it would be like to mark it with kisses and love bites, not at all), but what he didn’t expect was the scars. His chest and stomach were covered in what looked like burns, long since healed. Most likely from acid; it looked splashed, which is common with oil, too, but with oil you almost always have some splashed on your face or hands, too, neither of which Jack has scars on. It was only when he noticed how nervous Jack was under his scrutiny that he realised that he had been staring. He took a soft cloth that he found in the box, ran it under cool tap water, and knelt in front of him. “I’m going to get this cleaned up off of you now, okay?” He asked as gently as he could. Jack nodded, and with that he went to work, wiping up and applying aloe gel to the quickly reddening areas. It looked like it was only first degree, which was good; as they caught it so quickly, it had a very slim chance of scarring. As he worked, Gabriel began humming some old Spanish love song that his mother used to sing to him, which seemed to help Jack relax more. 

Once he was done, Gabriel tossed the cloth into the clothes hamper, and the bottle of aloe back into the box. He couldn’t help but run his fingers along Jack’s scars, oblivious to Jack’s shudders as he did so. “Acid?” He finally asked, looking up into Jack’s eyes to gauge a reaction. 

Jack simply raised an eyebrow. “You can tell?” He asked. “Most people just assumed I got caught in a fire.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel replied. “I’ve seen enough of both types by now that I can usually tell the difference. If you don’t mind me asking, how in the hell did a farmboy such as yourself get caught up in that much acid?”

Jack shrugged. “Not if you don’t mind telling me how a high school math teacher has come across so many burned up people that he can tell by looking how they got messed up.” At Gabriel’s nod, he continued. “It’s amazing what a group of homophobes can do once they’ve set their mind to it, huh? I was about 18 or 19 when I came out. Parents didn’t care, which was pretty surprising, considering how religious they are, but I wasn’t about to complain. The rest of the town didn’t like it much, though. One group of guys that I went to school with found out, and they made my life a living hell. Eventually, one of them got their hands on some acid, and surprised me with it in the parking lot that afternoon after practice. They didn’t get any on my face, thank God, but that still didn’t keep me from having to stay in the hospital for a while. I took that as my cue that I needed to get the fuck out of there, and took a programming job in New York. A few years later they opened up a branch out here and offered me a better position to go out, so I took it.” Once again, he looked nervous, as though waiting for Gabriel’s reaction. He wondered, besides maybe opening up so much, what would’ve made him nervous. It was then that he realized that it was the first time that Jack had actually confirmed to him that he wasn’t straight, and immediately he jumped to assure him that it was okay.

“I am so sorry, Jack; no one deserves to have that happen, least of all you. I mean, when I came out, no one else but my family cared. They more or less kicked me out, and I couch surfed for a few months before I found the group I ran with for a few years. They took me in, fed me, treated me like family, all in exchange for helping them out with missions here and there. It was almost an anti-gang, in a way. We tried to keep everything in check where the police were lacking. Eventually, it wasn’t too bad of a place anymore, and everyone just started leaving, one by one. I wanted to make sure no one was going to get left alone, so I was the last person in it. After that, I went back to school, got my education degree, and started teaching- it was what I wanted to do since I was a kid.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he finished his story, and glanced up to see a slack-jawed Jack.

“Whoa, that is so cool! You guys must’ve been so badass, like a group of heroes!” Gabriel couldn’t help but allow a soft smile to grace his features as he watched Jack go on about how awesome he is, stars practically forming in his eyes. Gabriel also found it completely adorable that the living embodiment of Steve Rogers himself was such a comic book nerd. 

Jack cut his ramblings of the rather flattering comparison of Gabriel and Deadpool short when he noticed his starstruck expression. “What is it?”

Well, no time like the present, Gabriel figured. When he opened his mouth, he found it immensely difficult to piece together a phrase that was not only made of actual words, but made sense, a mundane task for him that was becoming increasingly more difficult the more he looked at the blond. “Did you want to go out with me, and grab something for dinner? We can stop for coffee too, if you’d like, I know you didn’t get any before you dumped it all over yourself.”

Jack grinned at him upon hearing this, and leaned in closer. “Why Mr. Reyes, are you asking me out on a date?” 

He cleared his throat, and leaned in in turn to Jack, leaving less than a few inches of space in between them. “What if I am?”

“Well, I would definitely say yes,” Jack leaned in agonizingly close, his lips almost brushing Gabriel’s, “But I would have to go put on a clean shirt, first.” And with that, he _stood up and walked out of the bathroom_ , presumably in search of a new shirt, the little tease. But oh well; Gabriel would definitely get him back for that after they eat tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Gabe, he just wants a kiss. He'll get one soon though, don't worry!


	4. Gabriel goes on a date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! Thank you so much for sticking with this until the end, especially since I am so out of practice with writing; it must be a bit painful to get through at times. I hope you enjoy the last chapter!

Gabriel silently praised himself for at least making somewhat of an effort to look nice before he came over, as he waited for Jack in the living room. What was taking him so long? Sure, it had only been a couple of minutes, but that was far more than enough time for his head to fill with worry. Yeah, sure, Jack accepted his offer of a date, and almost kissed him, but did that really mean that he was attracted to him, or did he think that he was just being a friend, and that he was a hopeless bromantic who liked dudes being dudes and only friends? Or wha-

“Hey, you ready to go?” Gabriel nearly jumped out of his skin upon hearing this; for a guy who was probably around 200 pounds of what looked to be solid muscle, he sure could sneak up on you. 

“Um, yeah, ready when you are,” He answered after clearing his throat. When Gabriel saw Jack, he immediately went into a coughing fit to hide the fact that his cheekbones and the tops of his ears felt very warm all of a sudden. It’s not that Jack looked that great or anything, he tried convincing himself- he was just used to seeing him in clothing that most definitely did not flatter the bulges in his biceps or make his eyes pop as much as this one does. Right, that’s it.

“Great, glad to hear it! You will definitely need to lead the way, though, I can barely find my way to the end of my driveway,” Jack said, chuckling and rubbing at the back of his neck. “Did you have anywhere in mind?”

Gabriel forced himself to meet Jack’s gaze as he answered. “Yeah, there’s one place within walking distance that’s pretty good. It’s a café up the street, Lucio’s, and their stuff’s really good. The owner’s a good guy, too; I had classes with him when I went back for my Master’s.”

“Glad to hear it! There’s so much stuff here, I never would’ve known where to start. Do you want to head out, then?” At Gabriel’s affirmative nod, Jack opened the door for them, and they began their trip over.

To Gabriel’s surprise, the short walk over was actually pleasant, and not peppered with awkward silences that often come with spending time with a new person. Jack told him more about what it was like to move here from so far away, and Gabriel added in similar experiences from when he first moved here when he was young. Jack was astonished to find out that like him, Gabriel initially grew up in a small town, but moved to Los Angeles when he was a teenager. 

When they came to Lucio’s, Gabriel was almost disappointed; he liked being able to speak freely to him without worrying about other people listening in. As soon as Gabriel held the door open for himself and Jack, they were immediately greeted with the soft, pulsing music tracks of Lucio’s own design. “Wow, you weren’t wrong,” Remarked Jack, looking around the room, “This is a really nice place. It’s calming, almost, but not to the point where you feel groggy, you know?”

Gabriel glanced over at him, trying to keep a look of surprise from taking over his features; Jack was the first one who really understood just how nice this place felt to him, and worded it so well. He had tried explaining it to other people, but they always got a bit confused with how a room could feel that. 

Rather than try to put all this into words, Gabriel responded with a simple, “Yeah, I understand. It’s part of the reason I like this place so much. But if you think the music’s nice, just wait until you have the food and coffee, it’s some of the best I’ve ever had. I don’t know how he does it, but that guy can make anything taste good.”

“You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, I barely ate anything today,” Jack said, whining and rubbing his stomach. Gabriel rolled his eyes, and pulled him by the arm to the counter to order. 

Once they got their drinks and a couple of sandwiches for both of them, Gabriel all but dragged Jack to the corner to escape Lucio’s ramblings about how good it was to actually see him with someone, because _”Seriously, he, like, never gets out, I get worried about him sometimes, and I have to tell him that a couple of cats can’t replace people.” _Jack looked particularly smug about the fact that Gabriel was so picky about who he spent time with, but he still wanted to get coffee with him.__

__After what had only seemed like a few minutes went by, Lucio approached both of them, ever present smile still on his face. “Hey, so as much as I like you guys hanging out here, you’re gonna have to move it somewhere else in a little bit; I’m about to close up.”_ _

__Gabriel looked up at him, puzzled. “Why so early, do you have something you need to get done?”_ _

__Lucio tipped his head back and laughed. “Oh my _God _, Jack, you’ve got a grip on him. Gabe, it’s quarter to nine; you’ve been here for a few hours now.”___ _

____He whipped his head over to Jack, who looked just as surprised as him. “Well, I guess we’ll be heading out then; I don’t want to keep you working any later than you have to. Are you ready, Jack?”_ _ _ _

____“Yep! Thanks, Lucio, it was nice to meet you; I’ll definitely come back again, this is so much better than the instant noodles I’ve been living off of for the past few days.” With that, they began their small walk home, that was just as nice as the way over._ _ _ _

____They stopped in front of Gabriel’s door when they got there. “Hey, so, um, thanks for coming with me today,” Gabriel said, “It was a lot nicer than going by myself.”_ _ _ _

____“No no, thank you, you really treated me to a nice night. I’m sorry you almost had to take me to the burn unit, though,” Jack said with a laugh. “But seriously, if you’re interested, I’d love to do this again; what do you think about breakfast with me in a couple days?”_ _ _ _

____Gabriel tried to not get too excited when he answered. “Yeah, sure, I’d like that. Let me know the place, but do _not _wake me up before 8:30, or I will eat all the hash browns. Have a good night, Jack,” He said before leaning in and pressing his lips softly against the other man’s. Jack responded almost immediately, and they broke apart once the need for air became too much. Gabriel smirked when he saw how red and flustered he turned.___ _ _ _

______“Um, thank you. Good night, Gabe,” Jack said, and rushed across the road to try and hide his still growing flush. Gabriel could get used to this, especially if Jack continues to be so easily flustered._ _ _ _ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, shoutout to my rabbit for eating my computer charger and putting this off even more lmao

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! If you did, comments and/or kudos are always welcome B)


End file.
